New trains won't run on all rail lines
FIRST ON 7: By year's end an extra 100,000 CityRail passengers will be travelling in brand new Waratah trains.
But not everyone is in for a comfortable ride, with commuters who use the busy Western line set to miss out.
Crews are working around the clock to finish off the new Waratahs, which will feature air-conditioning, improved display screens, easier access doors and eventually WiFi internet.
But the project has had major production problems, and it almost folded before a taxpayer-funded $175 million bailout.
New South Wales Transport Minister, Gladys Berejiklian, said the project was certainly at risk.
"It was about to fall over, fortunately the Government managed to pull it together," Ms Berejiklian said.
Waratahs will run on the Airport and East Hills, South, Northern, Olympic Park, Bankstown and Inner West lines, with the Western and North Shore lines joining up down the track.
So far 26 trains have been built, and by the end of the year there will be 50 running.
The project team expects all 78 of the carriages to be finished by mid-way through next year. That means less reliance on the old silver rattlers, and a welcome relief for Sydney's long-suffering commuters.
But the Government admits that old carriages will still run on some lines.
"We'll do our best to get the new trains on the Western line as soon as possible," Gladys Berejiklian said.
The Opposition says Waratahs were supposed to replace the last remaining old carriages.
Shadow Transport Minister Penny Sharpe said she wants to know how much longer Sydneysiders will have to ride in 'tin cans'.
"How long will people on the Western and Southern line have to put up with it?"
With the project almost complete, the Government has started planning the next new wave of trains.
Experts believe metro-style carriages, like we will see on the North-West Rail, are inevitable - eventually.
